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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1947)
Ex-Emeraldite Observes Life in France (Editor’s Note: This report from France is not intended to be an objective analysis of the situation in France today. It is merely a series of personal ob servations and experiences. The writer, a school of journalism graduate of last June, sailed from New York October 8 and is now attending Grenoble uni versity in Grenoble, France. The Emerald hopes to publish - • his letters from time to time. His address is Hotel Gambetta, 43 Blvd., Gambetta, Grenoble Isere, France.) By HERB PENNY GRENOBLE, Nov. 3—One hour after the America left the pier I was in difficulties. My Zeiss cam era which I had purchased from Ted Hallock for more money than I could afford was stolen from my stateroom and was never re covered. It was such a blow that I didn’t even stagger to the deck to do the traditional looking at the Statue of Liberty in the eve ning fog. I recovered in a day or two, however, and spent most of the Voyage with a polyglot group of French, English, and Americans carrying on labored but exciting conversation far into the night in the comfortable lounge and wak ing with a large head each day at noon. The people in our group talked two languages plus hands. There was Solonge, who spoke as little English as I do French and the combination of my poor danc ing, swaying dance floor, and So longe keeping up a rapid-fire talk, understood or not, was almost a cartoon. There was Michele, who lives in Grenoble and who did most of my translating. And there was Jaques who works for Rubenstein and makes perfume and was almost a ringer for Boy er. Then Margaret, very British, who spoke not even the few words of French that I had. Also Terry and Susan, two American girls who had little money but wanted to go to Paris. They tried to get a job with UNESCO in the States, but they could not, so they went on their own to see if they could get a job over there. Their future seemed uncertain but they were com pletely unworried. Damage Obvious We arrived at Cherbourg, and among other officials who came on board was a somewhat tight little man who hated Americans, Russians, and English with equal zest. At the dock war damage and repairs were obvious, but there were also such things as the pas sengers watching the porters fearfully, afraid they would walk off with the baggage, while I no ticed the same porters carefully carrying not only baggage but babies with great tenderness to the dock. We got on the train for Paris. In the city the Metro was on strike, but I and Ray Anderson, an American student for the Sor bonne, got down to the Rue des Ecoles just off the Boul’ Mich' and were welcomed with open ^rms at a little hotel with odd lighting and plumbing but with a fine balcony above the street. Each morning from the balcony I noticed the neighborhood house wives getting their bread. There was no queue and they went away with it under their arms, like four or five clubs. It is about 3 feet long and twice the thickness of a broom handle. It is tough but not bad and 6 or 7 inches of it forms the backbone of every meal. During the strike the city was in a mess, although people seemed quite used to it. There were a few buses operating, also trucks, lor ries, anything. People hung on anywhere for a ride; drivers wait ed for no one. Money Sought Getting to the embassy and back was an all-day job and we walked back along the Seine where the book stalls and the fishermen are there according to plan. The Pont Neuf is as it is in the paintings, and in front of No tre Dame a sharper spots the tourists and mutters about, “Any American money ?—very good rates.” At the book stalls I no ticed a copy of Wilson’s “Tropic of Capricorn” on top of “Honey in the Horn.” In many ways I felt insulated from Paris with the language barrier the largest insulator. Elec tions were being held but I could not find out what it was all about. Mixed in with election flurry were the strikers and, I suspected, strike-breakers, covered overall by reports from the coast of port strikes which were hamstringing the ports. I had just arrived in time. In Cherbourg they had dif ficulty getting the America away. I caught an occasional word that the taxis might go out and even the truck drivers, but I got no understanding of the whole thing. French Reporting The newspapers were little aid. The lead of a main story began, “La situation de la greve des transports est, ce matin, parfaite ment incomprehensible.” That seems to go for French reporting in general. Only occasionally could I see signs of the stresses that must have been apparent to all Frenchmen. I noticed a group of men argu irtg on a street and saw by their placard that they were a com mittee to end the Metro strike. Then I saw, here and there in the passing crowd, gendarmes with rifles. In front of l’Hummanite, Communist newspaper, I saw a huge crowd one night, none well dressed, listening to a speaker. A couple of hours later many peo ple were still there. My meals in Paris were not wonderful, although I could have had anything I wanted if I chose to spend the money. About 100 francs buys a passable meal in a restaurant, 200 a very good one. I discovered a great aid at the vet’s office where I learned that I could get a PX card which en titled me to 12 packs of cigarettes a week. Visit an Operator While in the city Ray and I went over to see Doc, a man we had met on board ship. He was staying in aa deluxe hotel. He said he had noticed no food shortages, but he had been dealing with the black marketeers in smuggled travelers’ checks. He was very nice, jovial, and seemed like a person I knew very well because he was an American. He told us how he had got a letter from a French doctor saying he was at tending a convention and thus could get the expenses for his trip deducted from his income-tax —but there was no convention. Doc may have been right about the food but I noticed that in front of food stores a little knot of people would gather and look at a cake in a window and note the price and then wander on. Ray and I joined the throngs in this innocent amusement. At the end of the week I looked up train schedules and early one morning started the trip south. The High Cost of Motion Pictures By BERT MOORE I’ve been told that “Life With Father” is an excellent picture. No doubt it is. Even “The New Yorker’s” perennially cynical critic gave it some sophisticated cheers. But I'm going to have to hold judgment for a few months or a year, until it returns to Eugene. None of the local cinema mer chants is giving me passes to his shows—and I’ll be damned if I’ll pay $1.25 to see a movie. $1.25! What nerve! I might not mind paying road show prices for a few films each year if I got a rebate on all the stinkers I saw where I was charged full price. As long as the “sliding scale” works only one way (up) the people down town are going to miss me at their road shows. Let's consider theater prices both of the past and in other lo calities today. It doesn’t take a long memory to remember when the first run show houses in Portland charged 25 cents before 1, 30 cents till 5, and 40 cents for the evening show. You could take your date to a show, buy her a sandwich, put some gas in the old man’s car, and still have change from a cou ple of bucks. If you’re thinking that every thing has gone up, and that 'thea ter prices aren’t way out of line, let’s examine the prices in an other city. Last September I passed a dol lar through the cashier's wicket and walked into the Roxy, in New York City. In return for my my buck I was underprivileged to see “Mother Wore Tights’’ (which wasn’t worth two-bits), but I also got to see Jack Ha ley, Ella Logan and The Harmoni cats on the stage, plus a terrific revue. At last reports the Roxy man agement wasn’t losing money by offering a show well worth the price charged. And for first re lease of Class A 20th-Century Fox musical the Roxy has to pay (Please turn to page three) v p* Oregon W Emerald ALL-AMERICAN 1946-47 The Oregon Daily Emerald, official publication of the University of Oregon, published daily during the college yeaf except Sundays, Mondays, and final examination periods. Entered as second-class matter at the postoffice, Eugene, Ore. Member of the Associated Collegiate Press BOB FRAZIER, Editor BOB CHAPMAN, Business Manager BILL YATES Managing Editor JUNE GOETZE. BOBOLEE BROPHY Co-News Editors walt McKinney, jeanne simmonds, maryann thielen Associates to Editor WALLY HUNTER Sports Editor PHYIXIS KOHLMEtER HELEN SHERMAN Assistant Managing Editors YIRG TUCKER Advertising Manager i National Advertising Manager.....Marilyn Turner Circulation Manager .Billi Jean Riethmiller Editorial Board: Harry Glicknian, Johnny Kahananui, Bert Moore, Ted Goodwin, Bill Stratton, Jack Billings. s Office Manager .Marge Huston Foster Students on Trial The student body will go on trial Thursday at 11 a.m. The test will be whether students with classes at that hour will at tend them or cut in order to help send off the team at the Mac court pep (not rally) assembly. Amazingly enough, it seems that ASUO President Stan Williamson and First Vice-President Howard Lemons had the devil of a time getting the student affairs committee to grant their request for this assembly. Certain faculty members of the committee evidently believed that students would have to be led by the hand to class, if there were another attraction, such as a pep assembly, on the campus. Other faculty members and student leaders believed that students with classes have enough sense to attend them regardless of whether or not there’s a rope-climbing artist in front of Tay lor’s. In other words the students are on the spot, under the scrutiny of many pairs of eyes. Question of the week: What will these strange creatures do Thursday? Are they mature enough to distinguish between right and wrong? Between going to class and going to an assembly? Do they belong in grade school ? 1 he stage is set and the jury is fidgeting. If the defendant is cleared, there may be a prayer for another day-time assembly some year. If the verdict is “guilty” we will all hang our heads and toll a bell for the misguided student who can't be trusted. Watch for the results in a later Emerald. M.E.T. 20 Yeais Ago From Emerald Files Ignaz Friedman, distinguished Polish pianist, was presented as the first artist on the ASUO con cert series. Billy Reinhart’s fighting frosh eleven met the Aggie rooks on Bell field at Corvallis and came back in the last period of the game to defeat the OAC year lings, 10 to 6. The Oregon Webfeet lost their Homecoming battle to the OAC Beavers, (no score was avail able). Oregon’s around-the-world de baters won over the University of Hawaii in a return bout. “Order of the O” held their Homecoming banquet at the Campus Shoppe. The school of journalism’s Jamboree with tickets and masks the only requirements. William M. Tugman, editor of the Eugene Daily Guard, spoke to the assembled reporting class es, giving an informal talk on “reporting.” AliQ'irtXj, tf&u By JIM PRIOR Do you feel nosey? Are you a busybody? Do you like to poke your shoot in other people’s busi ness? Well, here’s your chance . . . “Candid Microphone” comes on at 8:30 tomorrow night. If you’ve already checked this pro-: gram, you know that no one sus pects he’s being interviewed by the hidden mike. Some guy just walks up to a person on the street and gets into a conversation. The results are wire recorded. And then, just to make it legal, each interviewee is asked for his per mission to use his voice on the air. An amazingly large number give it the O.K. We knew someone would take Pat Novak to heart sooner or lat er. (He's on Sunday nights over KUGN and ABC.) Jack Lewis (who plays Jocko Madigan of the bibulous habits) recently received a letter from an actual address in Oakland, Cal., containing a booklet and application to join the Samaritan Institution, thus assuring his “freedom from de structive drinking.” Unfortunate ly, Lewis is a teetotaler, so the summons went wanting. Oh yes, “Treasury Agent” will make with the monsters Thursday evening around 7 p.m. Thrills, chills, excitement, drama . . . be sides, it's good listening. “The Clock” has another weird tale to tell at 7:30 as well. For that early Friday evening lull, tip your ear toward KUGN at 6:45 for honey-voiced Art Litchman with “Sportscopy.” Snapping at his heels comes Har ry Wismer at 6:55, just before the Friday Night Fights. You won’t have any trouble telling Wismer and Litchman apart. (Litchman’s fatter.) And you'll get a complete picture of the lo cal and national sports picture. Each weekday evening, KUGN and ABC bring you a late dancing party from around the Pacific slope. At present, Freddie Martin and Dick Jurgens are playing their wares from 10:30 p.m. or so. And for future reference, Joe Louis and Joe Walcott will slug it out December 5 at Madison Square Garden. This battle for the heavyweight crown will be called by Don Dunphy and Bill Corum - over KUGN and the ABC net work. Best you stake out your seat now.—Pd. Adv.
